SANTA CLARITA – Chris James came back Friday to where it all started, where he left as a horribly injured teenage boy and returned years later as a man who’s taken that experience and made it a blessing.

It was here at Hart High School that James, then 17, nearly died when an outdoor physics class experiment went wrong and left him with burns so severe he’s had dozens of surgeries to repair the damage.

His visit to the Newhall campus was as a guest invited to help prepare the swim team for Monday’s expected return of team member Michael Ewart, who was badly burned a month ago in a fire that destroyed his family’s Valencia home.

“Treat him like you would have treated him before,” James told a crowd of about 100. “The most important thing is for you guys to be supportive.”

James, who admitted feeling a little nervous at being the center of attention back in high school, need not have. The former class clown got laughs when he cautioned against going overboard and fawning over Ewart.

After catching up with a couple of teachers and surveying the much-improved campus, James said it “feels like yesterday” that he was a student. But a couple of things have happened since then.

The low-key 24-year-old with the dry sense of humor has graduated from a prestigious university, plays drums in a rock band, is launching an independent recording studio, jogs, hikes, mountain bikes and views the world through expressive sky-blue eyes. He may pursue a graduate degree in film down the road.

James emerged phoenix-like from the explosion of a makeshift methanol-fueled cannon, which shot superheated gas in his face, ignited his shirt and ferociously burned his vocal cords, lungs, face, chest, shoulders and arms. James spent more than a month at the Grossman Burn Center in Sherman Oaks, where his family initially was told his chances for survival were 50-50.

“He has been through the wars,” said Dr. Richard Grossman, director of the burn center, who hugged his former patient when James visited last week. “Most 17-year-olds would turn to drugs. … ‘The pain’s too much for me.’ Most would not want to go to school; they would hide in a shell. There is something internal in him. You don’t find survivors like this.”

A varsity soccer player in his days at Hart, James since has powered through years of physical therapy and more than 40 surgeries to regain what the accident stole from him. And he’s been stoic.

“He has never complained to me,” said his mother, Carolyn Strametz.

James said he considers the accident a blessing and one of many chapters in his life.

It happened when he was 17, a senior, a jock. He graduated with his high school classmates in 1999 and had to postpone just two college semesters due to the demands of surgery: one between high school and College of the Canyons, the other just before entering the University of Southern California.

He talks about the “vanity thing” and how finding the balance between reconstructing his melted features and accepting that his sense of self must not rest too heavily on the facade.

“Years and years of predatorial evolution have taught us to be afraid of something that does not look normal,” he said. “Once you break the barrier, it’s OK. That can be difficult sometimes.”

At times like those, he is more aware of the reminders on his flesh.

“It is more difficult to go out to the grocery store,” he said.

When things are going well “you almost become inspired by yourself,” he said. “You notice the way people experience you.” And the way you see yourself, in your subconscious.

“When I first got out of the hospital, I had dreams and would see myself as my former self,” he said. “Now in my dreams, I see what I look like now.”

He has never seen the photos taken when he arrived at the burn center.

Ten of James’ surgeries have been to repair his nose, half of which was burned off by the explosion. A Chicago surgeon dug a channel of skin from James’ scalp, which was temporarily draped across his face to provide circulation to aid in healing the rebuilt nose.

Because of their unique knowledge, burn survivors are the best psychologists the center could have, Grossman said.

Allie Haynes agrees. She was 14 the summer of 1999 when she was burned in a propane fire in the barbecue area at the William S. Hart PONY Baseball and Softball Complex in Valencia. James visited her the day after her accident and often during her 3-week stay at the burn center.

“Him coming in, how his attitude was, helped me,” she said. “If he can do it, I can do it,” the now 20-year-old remembers thinking. Haynes, who is pursuing a degree in small business, plans to open a beauty salon.

“I knew who he was,” said Allie’s mother, Sue Haynes. “When he came in just to give us comfort, him and his mom, it was so warming to me. He’s a special person.”

Last year, young burn survivors got to meet their idol at the Canyon Creek Sports Camp in Lake Hughes at a weekend-long annual event.

“`We met Chris!”‘ Grossman recalled the kids shouting. “He was a big hit.” And when a 17-year-old, who was burned after a motorcycle accident, received treatment at a Grossman Burn Center campus in Santa Ana, James made the drive to visit him.

“It made a world of difference,” Grossman said, smiling.

The visits help James, too.

“It sort of reminds me I was once in the hospital. Things could be worse.”

James said he is very determined and focused on meeting his goals. “The experience has been profound,” he said. “I understand more about happiness. I understand life can be dark, unfair.”

The day before her son’s accident, Strametz had a cancer scare but was told not to worry. The day of the accident, she was told otherwise.

“He’s on life support. He may not live,” she said doctors told her that day. “`You have a little cancer in your breast.’ It did not matter at all. I did not think about it.”

After James returned home, she sought radiation therapy. And after Strametz assembled the frame around her son’s University of Southern California diploma and handed it to him, he said gave it back, saying, “Here, Mom. It’s for you.”

James earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology in May. His band, the Digital Fridge, which can be found at myspace.com/thedigitalfridge, has played at the Key Club, the Joint, Club Good Hurt, the Cobalt Club and Whisky A Go Go. The group is on hiatus but hopes to resume playing gigs soon.

The group’s nondescript storefront studio is in the North Hollywood arts district. The bland exterior, like that of many studios in the area, gives no hint of the state-of-the-art equipment housed inside. James expects his band to record there and hopes to record other bands.

He and some of his fellow band mates – some are also fellow Hart grads – share a house in Silverlake. The detour into music came after the accident.

“I had a lot of free time. I wasn’t playing any sports,” he said. “Music takes a lot of coordination, it takes a lot of practice.” He is self-taught.

He envisions his actions, more than words, as motivators for others.

“I don’t just want to be known as the burn survivor who helps people,” he said. “There are things I want to do, to fail at.” James hopes to establish credibility for the recording studio, then act as the proprietor, handing off the day-to-day duties. He sees the on-the-job training of learning to run the studio – working with artists, contracts and technology – as a steppingstone to the film business. The $8 million settlement he won from the William S. Hart Union High School District has helped finance his education and business endeavors.

He is very close to his uncle, Roy Fought. Uncle Roy was at his side through every one of the 37 days at the burn center.

“Dr. Grossman sat down with us the first day and said 50 percent of whether (Chris) lives or dies depends on family,” Fought said. “When the accident happened, I thought, ‘This is either going to kill him or he’ll soar like an eagle.’ Once he knew this was the only road to go – to give up or go – it was 100 percent go.”

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